Virginia to New Mexico

Wednesday July 18, 2012

I am all settled in at Vermejo Park Ranch in northeast New Mexico. I’m happy to be here but feeling exhausted. I don’t know if my activities of the past month plus have caught up with me or if I’m being affected by the elevation of this place. It’s something over 7000 feet. Oh, and it’s so nice here! It’s beautiful, and it’s cool. I had my bedroom windows open last night and I was getting cold by morning. I put a fleece on to go down and get my coffee at 7:00 am.

I spent five days driving across the country (1800 miles), so I really took my time about it. I had a bit of a hard time leaving Virginia in the first place, so I got a late start, then I went on a little side track in Allegheny County before heading further west. It was hard to leave Thomas again, and hard to leave home. I kept feeling a bit of anxiety as I traveled. I spent a couple of days with my friend Ken in Columbia, Missouri, and that was refreshing. I couch surfed with a 70 year old woman in Wichita, and then a 30 year old man in Raton, New Mexico. Raton is the last town before the ranch; Vermejo is another 40 miles west of Raton.

It feels so good to be here. The people are wonderful, the food is fantastic, and I have almost 600,000 acres to explore. The past two mornings I’ve gone for walks down the road, and I just can’t tell you how good it makes me feel to start my day with a walk and some stretching. There are roads and trails and wide open spaces to wander. There’s a lake up the road a bit, and many more on the property. On Saturday nights there’s a B-B-Q at the lake up the road (Merrick Lake) for lodge guests. I’ll be working the B-B-Q this Saturday, so I’ll get to check it out. At some point I’ll go swimming in the lake too.

It’s really quiet around here right now. Last night was my first dinner service and there were only 24 guests. Tonight there’s the same. The work is easy. Hopefully things are going to pick up. I’m planning to be here until the end of October. By then hunting season will have begun, and I’m told this is a different place once the hunts begin. I’m told it’s all very family oriented right now, but all the guests last night were men.

Well, that’s about it, I just wanted to let everyone know what I’m up to. I’ll post again when there’s something interesting to report.

~Melanie